It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
Last week, we looked at the only MLB pitcher to win 20 or more games AND two World Series games in a rookie season. For that post, click here. This week, we’re looking at the longest season-opening losing streak in MLB history.
On this date (April 28) in 1988, the Baltimore Orioles were in town, facing off against my Minnesota Twins in the Metrodome. It was a fairly nondescript game, a Twins 4-2 win in front of 23,006 fans. Each team had six hits, with the Twins scoring on a tw0-run fourth-inning homer by 1B Kent Hrbek and a two-run, sixth-inning double by LF John Moses – and the Orioles scoring on a first-inning groundout by 1B Eddie Murray (on which LF Tito Landrum scored) and a fourth-inning, bases-loaded walk (Mike Mason pitching to Landrum). Mike Boddicker was the losing pitcher; Allan Anderson got the win.
So why is this game worth a tidbit? Because, on that day, the Twins handed the Orioles’ their twenty-first consecutive loss (from the start of the season) – still the record for the deepest into a season any team has gone without a win. The very next day, the Orioles broke the losing streak with a 9-0 win over the White Sox, but history was made. This tidbit takes a look at the Orioles record-breaking start to the 1988 season. Orioles’ fans may want to look away.
There were of a pair Ripkens on the 1988 Orioles: SS Cal Ripken, Jr.; and 2B/3B Billy Ripken.
First, coming into that 21st game, the 0-20 Orioles were (of course) 16 games out of first place just 20 games into the season. (They would go on to finish 54-107, 34 ½ games out of first.) The leadoff hitter for Baltimore that day (names are omitted to protect the innocent) was hitting just .091 and there were four sub-.200 hitters in the lineup. No player in the Oriole lineup had more than two home runs, nor more than six RBI. The starting pitcher was 0-4, 7.40. Side note: After suffering that 21st loss, the Orioles moved on to Chicago, where they won the first game of a three-game series 9-0.
Cal Ripken Sr. opened the 1988 season as the Orioles’ manager, coming off a 67-95 1987 season, but was let go after an 0-6 start (during which the Orioles were outscored 43-to-7), with Frank Robinson taking over the team.
To truly understand the depth of Baltimore’s start to the 1988 season, you have to look at the 21-game, season-opening losing streak as a whole. First, there hints of disaster right from the start. The Orioles opened at home, against the Brewers, and treated 52,395 fans to a 12-0 loss. A portent of things to come?
In their first 21 games, the Orioles were:
- Outscored 129-44;
- Outhit .311-to-.193;
- Outhomered 21-9;
- Put up a 5.92 earned run average to the opponents’ 2.02; and
- Made 21 errors to the opposition’s 12.
The streak consisted of 13 road games and eight home contests. The Orioles scored one run or less in ten games (shutout three times) and lost seven games by five or more runs.
The streak included five one-run losses (one extra-inning game). In one particular point in the streak (games 9-11), the Orioles suffered three tough one-run home losses.
- On April 14, they lost to the Royals 4-3, when Kansas City scored the winning run on an outfield error with two outs in the top of the ninth inning (and the game knotted at three apiece.)
- On April 15, they lost 3-2 to the Indians, after leading 2-1 through the seventh inning.
- On April 16, they lost a heartbreaker 1-0 to the Indians in eleven innings, despite outhitting Cleveland 8-3. In that one, the go-ahead run scored on a two-out single, after a pair of walks and a passed ball. The Orioles had a chance in the bottom of the eleventh frame, with runners on second and third with just one out, but could not push a run across.
The only regular-season MLB losing streaks longer than the Orioles’ 1988 season-opening belong to the: 1889 Louisville Colonels (26 games); and 1961 Phillies (23 games), but these were not season-opening streaks.
Primary Resource: Stathead.com
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